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Showing results for tags 'journaling journal writing'.
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I had to start this thread on journaling because I have been doing it for a long time and want to expand my knowledge on the subject, and improve my experience, and perhaps even professionalize myself in journaling. I hope everyone who journals jumps on this thread and pays forward their two cents on the matter. Any little thing is valuable and welcome. If you have something to share, please do so. I started out journaling when I was eighteen, in 1982, and thought I had invented something new and exciting. Most everything I did up to around the year 1998 was burned or thrown in the trash. From 1998 on, I have a lot of material, most of it digital. I bought my first computer in 1998 and immediately put my typewriter and notebooks away and went 100% digital. I journal and write all over the place. My main journal is an old laptop computer that a friend of mine was going to throw in the trash. He said it was old and giving him too many problems. I took it from him, wiped Windows 7 off it, loaded Puppy Linux on it, and it has been running like a clock ever since. Nothing at all wrong with this machine. I never connect this computer to the Internet. The only thing I do on it is journal and a few other writing projects. This is my preferred method of journaling. Another unique tool I have found was introduced to me in the work of John Bradshaw: non-dominant handwriting. I started out writing with my left hand as a child, but was forced to switch to my left hand. I am amazed at how quickly I was able to pick up writing with my left hand and how well I do it. It feels quite natural, and different thoughts come to me than would if I were writing with my dominant hand. So, now the non-dominant handwriting is an integral part of my journaling. I have started a notebook and a folder for keeping all of these little non-dominant handwritten notes. I am absolutely delighted. I reread my journal from the previous day in the morning when I start writing. I correct all the spelling and read it through, adding whatever I need to add, taking out whatever makes no sense or is unnecessary, etc. Some of the material I write helps a great deal. Sometimes there are great breakthroughs and experiences. Some of the material is useless. The bottom line on journaling, the main reason I do it, is that I love it. What are your experiences, advice, teachings on journaling?